The City of Providence Committee on an Ordinance on Nov. 3 approved a revision to Chapter 27 of the zoning ordinance to align the city's process for cannabis establishment approvals with state licensing regulations.

Robert Azar, deputy director of the Department of Planning and Development, explained the city's prior ordinance generally required state approval before city approval. "The way our ordinance had been written, after the state law changed, was done without knowing what the ultimate regulations were gonna be for licensing cannabis facilities. And the way that our ordinance was written is that you needed to get state approval before you got city approval. But the way they wrote their regulations is that you need to get city approval first before you get state approval. So these rules simply change it to reverse the order of operations," Azar said.

Committee members asked no substantive questions on the item. Vice Chairwoman Peterson moved to approve the amendment; Councilwoman Harris seconded. The committee voted to approve the change so applicants may proceed through the state licensing process without procedural conflicts.

The amendment was described as a technical change to ensure compliance with state law; the committee did not specify additional conditions or an implementation date during the meeting.